AB InBev Q2 2026: Beyond Beer, no-alcohol, and premiumisation are growing four to eight times faster than core beer, and the company spent $4.1 billion in half a year making sure that continues

AB InBev published its Q2 2026 and first half 2026 results on 30 July 2026. Revenue increased 5.6% organically in Q2 to a reported $16,660 million, with beer volumes growing 1.1% and total volumes growing 0.9%. Normalized EBITDA grew 5.8% to $5,938 million, with margin expanding 4 basis points to 35.6%. Underlying EPS increased 23.4% to $1.21. For the half year, revenue grew 5.7% organically to $31,927 million, with beer volumes up 1.2% and Underlying EPS up 22.1% to $2.18. Free cash flow for the half year was $3,881 million – a $2,526 million improvement on HY25. The quarter also contained two significant M&A disclosures: AB InBev completed the acquisition of an 85% controlling stake in BeatBox, a US-based RTD beverage business, and separately completed the reacquisition of the 49.9% minority stake in its US-based metal container plants.

Understanding AB InBev as a commercial proposition requires understanding the scale at which it operates and the specific strategic framework it uses to manage that scale. It generates roughly $60 billion in annual revenue. It operates in more than 50 countries. Its portfolio spans over 400 brands – though a handful of “megabrands” (Budweiser, Corona, Stella Artois, Michelob Ultra) represent the majority of investment and disproportionate revenue growth. The three strategic pillars that AB InBev reports against – Lead and Grow the Category, Digitise and Monetise the Ecosystem, Optimise the Business – are not marketing language. They are the operating framework that drives its commercial decisions at every level, from brand investment allocation to channel development to portfolio acquisition.

For brand managers and strategy teams at other drinks producers, AB InBev’s quarterly results are useful not because of the headline figures – a company of this scale growing 5.6% organically is doing well, but the number itself tells you little – but because of the specific market-level and category-level data the company discloses. AB InBev operates at sufficient scale that its volume and revenue trends by market are effectively category-level data points. When AB InBev reports China beer industry volumes fell mid-single digits in Q2, that is the most specific available real-time read on the Chinese beer market. When Cutwater is described as the number one share-gaining brand in the total US spirits industry, that describes the direction RTD spirits are moving against the incumbent category. Those market-level signals, extracted from a corporate results document, are the commercially relevant content.

The revenue story: premiumisation and Beyond Beer doing the heavy lifting